Foundation W
Rooted in heritage, transmission, sharing and emerging talent, the Wilmotte Foundation is very much of its time, fostering a dialogue between two worlds: built heritage and contemporary forms of architecture. It blurs boundaries, challenges conventions, weaves together ideas and perspectives, and sparks new ways of thinking. It is both a laboratory for experimentation and a showcase for innovation.
In 2005, we created a corporate foundation to highlight the concept of the “contemporary grafting”, an architectural approach that consists in preserving all or part of an existing historic building while adding contemporary elements required for its new use.
Contemporary grafting
We noticed that architecture schools teach very little about the subject of rehabilitation, nor do they teach the methods for transforming a building when its use changes. In France, as elsewhere, architectural education is very often based on the design of projects from scratch. Yet, in our European countries, there is no longer any room to build on vacant land. And even if some plots of land were still available for construction, the ecological emergency requires us to choose rehabilitation rather than new constructions.
The principle of a “contemporary graft” is therefore essential. It makes it possible to renovate older buildings using current technologies, without falling into pastiche.
For this reason, it seems important to us to raise young architects’ awareness of the challenges of rehabilitation. While giving historic sites a respectful new life, this architectural approach adapts places to new uses and to the requirements of sustainable development. Through this initiative, we wish to encourage the redevelopment of outstanding sites.
Carrying heritage forward
As part of its commitment to preserving contemporary architectural heritage and to creating a documentation archive accessible to all, the Foundation is acquiring testimonies from professionals that will form the memory of tomorrow.
It will soon organize exhibitions and conferences in France and abroad to promote their dissemination and foster greater awareness and understanding.
Finally, it will regularly publish works whose guiding principle will be the transmission of knowledge and emotions.
As part of this approach, the Foundation already includes a committee of qualified experts whose diverse backgrounds ensure the relevance of its commitment and actions.
Contact Foundation W
Venice
Fondaco Degli Angeli
Galerie de la Fondation W
Cannaregio 3560
30121 Venezia
Opening hours during exhibitions
Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00 am–1:30 pm – 2:30 pm–6:00 pm
Closed on public holidays
Located in Venice, in the Cannareggio, the Fondaco Degli Angeli is the exhibition gallery of the Wilmotte Foundation. It opened its doors on 31 August 2012, for the 13th Architecture Biennale.
Housed in a former boat repair workshop—an industrial building dating from the late nineteenth century—the Fondaco Degli Angeli showcases the winners of the W Prize, organized every two years by the Wilmotte Foundation.
It also serves as a dedicated exhibition venue for artists whose work explores architecture and landscape. The gallery hosts talks, book presentations and signing events, as well as programmes devoted to promoting contemporary graft in architecture.
London
The Wilmotte Gallery at Lichfield Studios
133 Oxford Gardens
London W10 6NE
Opening hours during exhibitions:
Monday to Friday 10.00 – 17.00
Closed bank holidays
Located in London’s Notting Hill district, the Wilmotte Gallery at Lichfield Studios has been jointly directed since 2009 by Jean-Michel Wilmotte and British art curator Tristan Hoare. Together, they have developed a programme of exhibitions with a particular focus on contemporary photography.
Formerly a car garage, the building was acquired in 1984 by Lord Lichfield, one of Britain’s most celebrated photographers and official portraitist to the Royal Family, who converted it into his photographic studio. The property was subsequently redesigned by Wilmotte UK, which added an additional floor for their own offices while transforming the ground level into an exhibition gallery. Always carefully preserving the building’s original industrial character, maintaining the distinctive atmosphere of a creative workshop.
Supporting young architects at the beginning of their careers is a key mission of our Foundation.
With this ambition in mind, the Foundation organises the W Prize, an architecture competition held every two years, designed to reveal, support and promote emerging talents, while raising awareness of the importance of creating a dialogue between heritage and the architecture of tomorrow.
The competition is open to students and recent graduates of schools of architecture who are citizens of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine and Georgia.
It recognises excellence in architectural proposals by awarding prizes and grants, exhibiting the winning projects during the Venice Architecture Biennale, and publishing the most outstanding submissions in a dedicated publication.
The jury brings together architects, artists, journalists, and recognised figures whose expertise spans the fields of architecture, culture and heritage.
W PRIZE 2023
For its tenth edition, we propose a challenge that is as stimulating as it is essential: A roof for all! Rooftops shape the landscape of cities and the countryside, they shape the horizon. A roof is a protection, it is a shelter to rebuild oneself. It is a promise of a renewed family and social life. Faced with the current crisis of inadequate housing, we invited participants to imagine original solutions in order to design habitable modules that would fit under these existing and unused roofs.
The foundation received 57 quality projects. Four projects were awarded, including two projects that tied for third place. Ten projects received mentions. The awards ceremony will take place at the Wilmotte Foundation Gallery in Venice on 18 May 2023. The winning projects will be exhibited in Venice in the Foundation’s Gallery during the Venice Architecture Biennale and will be published in a dedicated book.
W PRIZE 2020
For this ninth year, graduates and students from all over Europe were invited to rethink the Château de la Tour d’Aigues around the theme of “Wine and Gastronomy”. For anyone who has stayed in the fertile lands of Lubéron, the theme seems an obvious one due to the region’s talents in welcoming visitors and the pleasures of the dining table. For this “architectural grafting” to work, the project had to incorporate the art and ingenuity of the region in terms of culinary talent.
For the 2020 W Prize, the Foundation received 900 applications. Teams were formed, and the jury chose between 139 dossiers with high-quality, innovative and creative projects, worthy of the site and its future ambitions. Nine projects were selected and three were finally given awards by the jury.